Rescue Me
by snoopykid
Summary: To be honest I have no idea what to make of this; however this takes place after the adventure in Neverland, Emma had to make a choice in which Neal gets seriously injured and Henry blames her for it. What will happen to the Charming family this time around? Will she have to make the same choice again? Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

So this is something that I have had in my mind over the course of the week. This story takes place relatively after the whole Neverland fiasco. I want to explore more of the relationship with Neal, Emma, and Henry along with other aspects of the family. So I am not too sure what to make of this just yet…and with that said enjoy!

**Rescue Me**

He was paralyzed, not with fear, but with the being drugged. Tamara had him in her arms with a knife pointed at his throat. He was completely helpless. Snow, David, Regina, Gold, Hook, and Henry couldn't move for fear of making the hostage situation worse.

The battle had been rough, but it was not over yet. The island was coming apart due to the magic being sucked out of it. Regina and Gold had set off another trigger after the defeat of Pan. The fairies had opened a portal for the innocent children to cross through; however there was only one bean left and it was in Emma's possession.

Tamara had taken Neal hostage as the rest of the party became captives because of the situation, "Tamara this whole place is coming apart! This is not necessary!" Emma started taking a step forward, but was stopped as Tamara pressed the knife to Neal's throat.

"Keep coming over here and he dies," Tamara threatened and to prove her point she pressed on his neck and Emma saw blood, "I swear I'll do it."

Emma halted and said, "I do not want to have to shoot you Tamara," It was at this point she pulled out her gun, "Let Neal go!"

"You'll have to shoot him to get to me anyway." Tamara responded, "Now I suggest you drop the weapon and give me the bean."

Emma steadies the gun as the ground shakes violently her eyes flying everywhere trying to find a way out of the situation, but comes up with nothing.

She sees her family shouting at her, but hears nothing as everything starts to slow down in front of her. Trees are toppling over and in the distance flashes of explosions burst around the scene. The ground shakes once more as she comes to the realization of what she must do to save not only themselves, but Neal as well, "Give me the bean and drop the damn gun!" She hears Tamara yell again.

Emma raises the gun and now takes aim at Neal and says a silent prayer in hopes that he will forgive her. Henry's eyes widen as he hears the faint click of the hammer as he watched his mother take aim, "No mom!" He calls out, but she doesn't hear his plead.

Tamara's eyes widen as she then too realizes as to what is going on, "You wouldn't." She breathed out.

Neal is semi-conscious as he stares down the barrel of Emma's gun. He gulps and gives her a slight nod, hoping that she saw it. Everyone holds their breath as the death defying shot is fired. Neal suddenly goes limp in Tamara's arms. There is another sudden quake and distractedly Tamara sees David and Hook approaching them fast as Snow, Regina, and Gold try and detain the boy who is crying for his father.

Tamara lets go of Neal as Emma realizes that this is her chance. She throws her gun aside, and charges right at the woman. Last second Tamara makes a move to stab Emma, but Emma dodges grabs the arm with the knife and flips her before Hook and David get to them. The three of them grab Neal and make a mad dash to the Jolly Roger with Snow, Regina, Gold, and Henry on their heels.

The last thing Emma hears is Tamara's cries as they reach the ship. In the distance she sees more explosions, but this doesn't bring any comfort as the bean gets thrown into the water and they enter the portal on the way home, because in her mind, the nightmare is not over yet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Rescue Me**

Hook tried not to look at her, but that was hard to do. Emma had remained silent ever since she took charge to patch Neal up the best she could. After that she had kept her distance from everyone and chose to stand by the edge of the ship and looked out over the mass ocean. He sighed and continued to steer the ship.

"How much longer?" Emma asked. Hook jumped slightly but still kept his eyes glued straight ahead as he steered the ship.

"Not long lass." Hook responded. Then he took out his spyglass, "I'd say an hour to an hour and a half or so." He now looked at her and he could see that she was not ok. She was pale and way to composed showing that she was trying her best not to let any emotion slip through. While he could not possibly imagine what she was feeling, he wanted to comfort her. Say anything…do anything however he was at a loss.

Emma nodded, but that did not ease her anxiety. Neal was still unconscious and not doing too well. She had managed to wrap up his wound, but he was starting to become feverish. Whatever drug Tamara had injected him with was starting to take a toll on his system.

Hook went to open his mouth to speak, but she started walking away from the helm and instead she went down to the cabins. Peaking into Neal's room she sees Henry sitting by his bedside. He was crying, "Dad please wake up."

"Henry," Emma called over easily while walking into the room.

Henry did not look at her but continued to look at his father, "Why?" He asked.

"Henry-"

"You are supposed to be the Savior. You are supposed to save people, not endanger their lives like this!" Henry yelled now fully standing and facing his mother while motioning to his father, "Did you really hate him that much?!"

His words shocked her, "Henry you don't-"

"Yea Emma I do!" She winced at his tone, but Henry failed to notice this as he continued, "What if it were me?! Would you shoot at me too?!"

Emma was silent as she looked at her son and she did not know what she should say or rather do. How was she supposed to answer his question? Apparently she didn't need to as he said, "Forget it ok. Your silence speaks volumes."

"Henry please-"

"Forget it, I understand completely," His tone was laced with venom and all Emma could do was look at him as he slid back into the chair by the bed.

"Hey we heard shouting, everything ok?" Snow asked as her and David came to the door.

Emma did not look at them, but chose to keep her eyes glued to Neal's pale and sweaty face, "Yea, everything is fine." Snow and David shared a glance as Emma left the room.

Snow looked at David and he understood that he should stay with Henry and Snow filed out to go find her daughter. She did not need to look very far and found Emma on the starboard side of the deck going at it with the punching bag that Snow assumed that she conjured up, "Emma-"

"Look I said I am fine," Emma responded not breaking her newly found rhythm, "I do not need to talk. I do not need consoling. I do not need advice. I do not need shit!" The final blow to the bag was a high kick.

Snow said nothing for a moment as Emma made up a new rhythm and started to wail on the bag once more. She was amazed at the moves Emma was doing with the punching and the kicking that she couldn't help but ask, "Where did you learn this?"

Emma wanted to respond with 'in the system and on the streets…where else?', but instead said chose, "I picked up a few things on my…travels."

Snow nodded not willing to debate the issue of vagueness, "Neal is going to be ok Emma. He will forgive you."

Emma laughed bitterly, "Snow what did I just get done saying not five minutes ago?"

"I know what you said, but I think you need to hear it anyway." Snow responded.

Emma sighed and waved her hand and willed the punching bag to transform into a live sparring dummy. Since the start of the mission to get to Neverland, she had Gold and Regina to train her with her magic. She also had her father and Hook teach her about swordsmanship. Along the way she managed to integrate her magic abilities along with the sword fighting. Summoning her sword, she and the dummy started sparring as Emma said, "Yea well you can save your breath ok?" Snow was about to cut in as Emma continued, "You can talk about how everything will be ok and turn out fine and blah blah blah until you are blue in the face, and it still will not make a difference as to how I feel."

"And how do you feel?" Snow asked softly as she watched Emma lunge for the dummy and in a swipe its head went flying.

Emma gave her mother a look and willed her sword away and summoned another dummy this time though it had a weapon and she was weaponless. Snow watched as Emma dodged the blows, "What part of I do not want to talk about it are you not getting?"

"Well do you really think that punching and fighting will get you the answers? Do you really think that running away and closing yourself off to your emotions is the answer?" Snow countered.

Emma stopped and looked at her mother long and hard. She then sensed the dummy about to strike when she turned and blocked the sword with her fist and aimed a high kick in the head, causing the dummy's head to fly off its shoulders and crumple to the ground. Emma was panting hard and Snow got up and placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder, but was shrugged off, "No one blames you Emma. Not Gold, Regina, Hook, your father, myself, and certainly not Henry."

Emma laughed making Snow cringe at the tone she developed, "Not Henry? Seriously? You were either dead to the world, deaf, stupid, or just out right delusional if you did not hear what he said to me early."

"Emma-"

But Emma did not hear her mother as she continued to make her point, "Clearly you and David were not dead to the world since you came to us as soon as you heard yelling, with that being said you did hear us so you are not deaf, and well I take it since you two are popular with the citizens of Storybrooke and have a knack for finding each other and whatever else you people did you clearly are not stupid…so I am going to say that you are delusional. Yes Regis that is my final answer! Do I win the million dollars?!" Emma yelled as she turned her back on her mother while throwing her hands in the air.

"Are you finished?" Snow asked while crossing her arms over her chest as she gave her daughter an annoyed look.

"Not remotely!" Emma yelled as she began to pace violently, "I just cannot seem to do anything right by him! I cannot seem to do anything right period! What good am I? Am I even a good person?"

Snow took a deep breath so she could calm herself down before speaking to her daughter, "Emma it is perfectly normal what you are feeling, after all you just-"

Emma closed her eyes and said, "Normal? I have not been normal since I came to this damn town!" Out of the corner of her eye she stopped said town and motioned to it, "In fact this town was never normal! Hell can I ever consider at one point in my fucked up life normal?!"

"Point taken," Snow stated as her daughter was about to raise her hand to summon another dummy; "Before you summon another dummy can't we just talk instead of fight?"

Emma stopped and landed her icy hazel eyes lock in with blue ones. Sighing she began to pace again, "Why bother? Everything I try to tell you, you counter act like it was nothing."

"Because it is nothing! It is not true! You have done good with your life…you have done and accomplished everything that I wish I could have done. Why can't you see that?" Snow stated.

Emma scoffed, "Because the good I have accomplished means nothing. I shot Neal! I let Henry down…again! Besides what is the point of the goodness if it is at the cost of losing my family?"

There was a moment of silence as mother and daughter stared one another down. Before Snow could say anything Hook's voice called out, "We'll be landing in five minutes. I suggest you start to get Neal ready and have an ambulance ready for when we get there!"

Again there was silence and Snow sighed, "Emma-"

"No. I am done." Emma stated firmly as she walked away from her mother.

Snow let out a groan and hung her head while rubbing her eyes into the palm of her hand, "You know why she did it right?" Snow's head whipped around to see her step-mother coming toward her.

"She made a mistake." Snow said slowly, "She didn't mean to shoot Neal."

Regina shook her head as she moved toward the railing of the ship and looked at the approaching town, "Is that what you think?"

"What else is there?" Snow asked slowly joining her step-mother, "Henry-"

"Trust me; I know what he is thinking. He is thinking that his mother shot his father on purpose." Regina said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yea I know that is why David is trying to convince him otherwise." Snow said slowly, but then paused as comprehension is dawning on her, "If you think that you can still steal Henry away from us then-"

Regina held her hand up stopping Snow in mid-tirade, "Ok stop right there. I do not need to steal Henry away. Most likely he will come to me on his own accord; and if he does not then I will not force him. That is issue number one." Regina took a deep breath and stated, "As for issue number two what I have to say is this: there are two sides to every story, so there are more things going on than what you or I could imagine."

"What does that mean? What are you talking about?" Snow asked.

Regina gave Snow a look, "If you do not know then I suggest you figure it out." The Queen turned her back on her step-daughter and started walking to the cabins while saying, "I also suggest you start gathering your things as we are docking soon."

Sirens could be heard in the distance and Snow could see the outline of the ambulance approaching waiting for them at the docks. To say Snow was confused would be an understatement, "Well nothing I said helped Henry at all," Snow jumped at Charming voice, "How did it go with Emma?"

"About as well as your talk with Henry it seems. How is Neal?" Snow asked as she approached him and he opened his arms for her.

"What did Regina want?" He asked switching topics seeing as he did not want to upset his wife further.

"To offer advice." Snow said slowly as if contemplating if what the Queen advice was genuine.

Charming groaned and Snow gave him a questioning look, "That just means that we must be in trouble if Regina is giving advice to us."

Snow silently agreed but stayed quiet about it as Charming also sighed out, "Gold gave us some as well."

"Ah really? At what cost this time?" Groaned Snow as she removed herself from his arms to get a good look at him.

"No cost. He said consider it as a 'family discount'." David said making the air quotes, "He just said that to give Emma and Henry time and that once Neal is better he can hopefully shed light on the aspects of the events." Snow nodded in agreement, "What did Regina say?" David asked.

"That there are two sides to every story," Snow said slowly.

"Ok and?" Charming asked.

Snow shrugged, "Really no more than that. She also mentioned that there could have been more things going on than what we could imagine."

"I do not know Snow. She was scared and thought that she could shoot Tamara, but hit Neal instead." Charming said trying to think back to those tortuous few minutes.

Snow had been trying the same thing but everything happened so quickly that what she did remember was a blur, "I guess this is a fun reunion…"

"Oh loads of fun."

"All a shore let's go ashore!" Hook called out as he came down on the main deck, "Let's get the lad off my ship shall we?" He looked at Charming and together they got Neal off the ship and on to the waiting ambulance.

Then Gold hopped in the ambulance. Henry gave him a look and nodded and he climbed aboard. Gold then looked to Emma, "Miss. Swan?"

Emma's eyes shot to Neal and then to Henry who was refusing to look at her. She shook her head and backed away, "No. You two go…I'll see you over there…"

Gold nodded and the doors were shut and it drove away, "I will follow them and meet you at the hospital." Regina stated not waiting for a response as she made her way to her car.

Emma did not respond, but Snow and David nodded. Once her car was out of sight they placed a hand on each of Emma's shoulders, but she backed away from them, "No. I do not deserve it."

"Emma-" Charming started to say but he was cut off.

"Let's just go please." Emma said as she started to walk away from the docks.

Hook slowly approached them. He hesitated before slightly cursing himself and said, "I do not mean to pry-"

"Then don't." Charming said firmly. He was thankful for Hook's help, but that did not make their relationship any better. He felt Snow's hand on his shoulder as she said to Hook, "Speak freely Captain."

Hook nodded, "As I was saying, I do not mean to pry, but if I may…allow me to offer a piece of advice?" Without waiting for a response he said, "Swan-Emma and I have an understanding…a connection. We are similar in many ways; so believe me when I say that she does not do things without a reason." With that he nodded and went back to his ship. Pausing he turned back and said, "Tell the crocodile that I hope his son feels better soon."

They watched Hook disappear on to his ship. Both of them were stunned and for a moment they stood with their mouths slightly opened. It was David who broke the silence, "So we heard advice from Regina, Gold, and Hook…how much trouble are we in?"

"I'd say we are in over our heads." Snow said, "Come on, let's get to the hospital."


	3. Chapter 3

**Rescue Me**

Emma didn't know what to do. Each step she took was a stab to her heart. Her breathing started to quicken and making sure that her parents would eventually lose sight of her, she deviated from the route to the hospital and went to the apartment. Once she reached the door and opened it she allowed instinct to take over and began grabbing everything and anything that belonged to her. Her heart started to accelerated as she grabbed the three boxes that remained in the closet that she had shared with her son and placed her stuff in them. She couldn't think and her chest tightened; it was as if she had no control. All she could see was the event and all she could hear was Henry's accusatory voice.

The room started swimming before her and it was then she realized that she was crying. Not bothering to stop to wipe her tears she loaded the boxes to her yellow bug and jumped into the car. Allowing a moment to catch her breath she realized that she couldn't just leave…however she couldn't stay at the apartment either. Henry no longer wanted her and she did not want her parents to suffer if he wanted to go home with Regina. She wanted him to be able to stay in the apartment with her parents. She wanted him to be happy…even if that meant her bowing out of his life. Starting the car and taking a shaky breath she drove away without looking back.

In the meantime at the hospital Snow and David saw Henry and Regina sitting in the chairs and Gold pacing back and forth. Neither of them took notice that Emma was not present. Before they could say anything they saw Whale coming out of a room.

"Gold?" Heads turned to see Whale coming forward.

"How is he?" Gold asked limping over to the doctor.

Whale sighed, "Well I must say I was impressed with the way Ms. Swan was able to patch him up. If I did not know any better I'd have guessed she was a doctor or at the very least she had experience in the medical field." Whale paused and started talking again, "Well to start with, the one wound he had was nearly healed. It looked rather old…I'd say more than a few weeks old at the very least so that had begun to heal surprisingly well."

"What about the other wound and the fever?" Gold asked.

"Well let's just say that he was in no immediate danger from the wound itself," Whale said and Henry perked his head up from the palm of his hands. Sitting up straighter he listened closely, "you see the bullet just grazed his shoulder. It was nowhere near any muscle tissue or artery. It seemed what he really was in danger of was the drug that he was given."

"What was this drug?" Charming asked as he placed a hand on Snow's shoulder.

"Well the drug it would seem is made up of altered cytotoxic venom that is typically found in rattle snakes or lance-headed viper snakes. I am not going to go into the specifics, but just know that we have isolated the affects and gave Mr. Cassidy the proper treatment and right now his body is responding well to those treatments." Whale explained and then looked to Gold, "You may go in and visit him."

Gold looked at the doctor and nodded gratefully and was about to walk into the room when he looked back at his grandson who was looking slightly worried, "Henry?" Henry looked at him and Gold smiled easily, "Want to join me?"

Henry jumped up and immediately followed his grandfather to Neal's room. Whale sighed and turned back to Regina, Snow, and David, "I also would recommend that you all get checked out. Life aboard a ship and placed in an unknown environment can have serious effects."

"Right well let's let Emma go first. Emma-?" Snow turned to look at her daughter, but then suddenly stiffened, "Where is Emma?"

"Wait she is not here?" David asked looking around, "Regina didn't Emma-"

"I have not seen her since we left the ship." Regina responded immediately, "I was assuming that she was with you…people."

Snow and David looked around the waiting area and saw no sign of their daughter, "Maybe she went to the station?" David suggested.

Before Snow could respond there was a commotion now coming from Neal's room, "EMMA!"

"Bae!" Gold's voice echoed through the hospital.

Whale spun on heel as loud rapid beeping could be heard. Snow, David, and Regina followed him and immediately Regina pulled Henry away from the bed.

Neal's eyes were wide with fear and his pupils were dilated, "Emma?!"

"Son-"

"Neal calm down-" Whale tried.

"No! I have to find her! Where is she?!" Neal roared trying to fight against his father and Whale's hold, "He has her!"

"Bae she is fine you are in Storybrooke. Ms. Swan is saf-"

Neal yelled in agony, "No! He is going to hurt her! It is my fault I have to-" He suddenly stopped and his eyes rolled back and he collapsed on the bed.

"Bae?!" Gold yelled and looked at Whale, "What did you do to my boy?!" His eyes flashed dangerously and David stepped forward to restrain the man.

Whale through a needle out and sighed, "I had to do something. But I have no clue what that was about…" After a brief silence Whale says slowly, "I think he is experiencing something like PTSD."

"PTSD?" Henry questions quietly.

Whale looks at the boy and nods, "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Whatever he experienced now it would seem he is remembering something like it…and it would seem it is connected to Ms. Swan…if perhaps you can get Ms. Swan to come in then maybe she can help him…right now however I will have to keep him sedated."

There was silence as Gold nodded and David released him, "Can I still stay with him?"

Whale nodded and then he left the room, "Well I guess we should find Emma?" Snow asked softly as Gold sat in the chair with his face in his hands.

"Yes we should. Regina can-" David was about to ask when the Queen looked at him, "Yes I will keep an eye on Henry."

Henry in the meantime didn't say anything. All he could do was process what had just transpired a few moments ago. What could have happened to make his father react like the way he did? "No," He spoke as he wiggled out of Regina's hold, "I want to help."

"Henry-" Regina started to argue along with Snow and David.

"If finding Emma means helping my dad then I am going to do it." Henry argued his tone suggesting no room for argument.

Everyone was in stunned silence as Henry looked at the adults firmly. Neal started to shift in his sleep once again which caused everyone to hold their breath, "I do not care," Gold stated immediately, "just get Ms. Swan over here."

"Ok I will stay with Gold and make sure he doesn't do anything crazy," Regina gave in knowing it was pointless to argue. With that Snow, David, and Henry left the room to find the blonde.


End file.
